Take 2-3 minutes to quiet yourself and ask God to speak to you today through your devotional time.
Reading: Matthew 7:13-29
Be sure to highlight or note anything that stands out to you while you read.
After reading the passage, take the next 5-10 minutes and spend time reflecting on what you read. You can write these things down in a journal or record them in your phone. Be attentive to both what you highlighted in the passage and what is going on in your life.
Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount with a stark choice: a narrow gate that leads to life, and a wide gate that leads to destruction. Jesus warns that few find the narrow way. because it takes full and daily surrender to living His way, while the wide road only asks you to drift with the crowd.
Jesus gives a warning and a promise in the same breath: you'll recognize a tree by its fruit, and even impressive words mean nothing if they aren't backed by actually doing what He says. The wise builder isn't the one who simply hears the message, it's the one who lets it reshape how they live, so that when the storms come, they're still standing.
Is your life currently being built on rock, doing what Jesus says, or on sand, where you agree with His words but haven't let them change how you live?
Now, take 10 minutes to seek God in prayer…
- Begin your time in prayer by taking 1-3 minutes to sit in silence (You can take longer if you sense the Spirit already beginning to speak to you).
- Pray through the things you sensed God speaking to you through the Scriptures or pray the following prayer: Jesus, I don't want to just hear Your words, I want to build my life on them. Show me anywhere I've settled for the easy, crowded road instead of the narrow way that leads to life and give me the courage to walk it today. Amen.
- Close by taking 5 minutes to sit in silence, asking God if there is anything else He wants to speak to you today.
Faith Step:
Identify one place where hearing God's Word and doing it are currently misaligned in your life and take one concrete action today to close that gap.